Arthritis drug is latest weapon in skin cancer war

DEADLY skin cancer could be stopped in its tracks by a drug designed to treat arthritis, scientists say.

Malignant melanoma kills more than 2,000 Britons a year and affects more than 10,000.

Rates of the disease are increasing dramatically thanks to the popularity of sunshine holidays and sunbeds.

Now early tests on mice show that when an arthritis drug is combined with another medication it can stop melanoma from growing.

The treatment could be available within five years.

Dr Grant Wheeler, from the University of East Anglia’s School of Biological Sciences, who shared leadership of the joint British-US research, said: “This is a really exciting discovery – making use of an existing drug specifically to target melanoma.

“Deaths from melanoma skin cancer are increasing and there is a desperate need for new, more effective treatments. We are very optimistic that this research will lead to novel treatments for melanoma tumours.”

Scientists made the discovery after screening thousands of compounds in search of promising new drugs.

Leflunomide was even more powerful when combined with an experimental melanoma drug called PLX4720. The research, published in the journal Nature, could move to clinical trials more quickly than usual because the arthritis drug is already known to be safe.

“There are no other treatments for melanoma cancer apart from radiotherapy and chemotherapy so this new treatment could be brilliant,” she said.

Sadly it comes too late for Janet, a mother of two. First diagnosed with melanoma 12 years ago she was given the all-clear after treatment but in 2007 cancer returned and spread.

In a separate study also published in Nature, scientists have said that a drug used in some melanoma cases may treat bone marrow cancer.

A study of the genes that trigger bone marrow cancer, known as myeloma, suggests that the skin drug acts on similar genes. Dr David Grant, scientific director at Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research, said: “New treatments are desperately needed.”